Today’s Mandala Message: Begin From Wherever You Are
This week I’m working through Principle #63: Start Now!…Just Do it! of Jack Canfield’s book “The Success Principles”. I set my intention today to ponder how to begin from where I am. Canfield states: “The key to success is to take what you have learned (or relearned) in this book and put it into action. You can’t do everything at once, but you can begin. … [B]egin taking action on your most important goals every day except your R & R Days. Pay the price by doing whatever it takes, ask for whatever you need with no fear of rejection, ask for and respond to feedback, commit to never-ending improvement, and persist in the face of whatever obstacles may come your way.”
Just like when you’re looking at a map (or using GPS), in order to get where you want to go, you need to know where you are starting from in order to ‘map’ your way to your destination. Too often we look at finishing the goal without realizing that without looking at the starting point, we find out the hard way that we on some key steps along the way.
I ran the LA Marathon in 1989. I’d been training for 9 months with my neighbor. We ‘mapped’ out a plan of how best to prepare ourselves for the race, with daily and weekly goals. For the most part it was a slow and steady process and we made slow and steady progress. Two weeks before the race I went into panic mode—I freaked out thinking I wasn’t going to be able to finish the race. Fortunately, my therapist at the time helped me see that I was too focused on finishing and not on the race as a whole. She said “crossing the finish line only takes seconds, what are you doing to keep yourself going for the 26.2 miles before that?”
So I changed my strategy: I bought a disposable camera (smartphones weren’t invented yet), attached mickey mouse ears to my visor, and created a sign for my back that said “after this I’m going to Disneyland” (this adage was a big advertising gimmick back then). The day of the race, because of my new strategy, I was able to be fully engaged every step of the way rather than just on the finish line. Onlookers were commenting on “mickey mouse”. Runners who passed me (and there were quite a few) joke with me about my sign. And I was able to take photos of the diverse areas of LA we traversed, including Hollywood and Chinatown. Each area offered music and celebration of their neighborhood and I documented my trek through each of them.
I also set an intention at the beginning of the race: I wanted to cross the finish line running (not walking or crawling) with a smile on my face. Five hours and forty minutes later, that’s exactly what I did. And I have the photos to prove it!
A good mindfulness practice would be to focus on where you are starting from with your project in order to gain insight on how you are going to make your way to the ‘finish line’.
So how about you? Do you know where you are with your project(s)/goal(s)? What’s one action you can take today on your project/goal? Are you able to plan out some form of action to take each day?
”A journey of 1,000 miles
— Ancient Chinese Proverb
must begin with one step.”
Blessings,
Maureen
The Mandala Lady
All Things Mandalas
An Invitation
I invite you to color along with me this year as part of what I’m calling “The Year of Self-Exploration and Expansion” with all of my “Mandalas of the ___” (day, week, month, year). If you’re interested in more of a self-exploration approach to coloring, check out my “Coloring Mandalas as Meditation”. You can download this mandala at MandalaoftheWeek.com.
Mandala of the Day 